Red Flags - Corporatization

Wiggle Your Ears: Medicalizing Female Libido Problems

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 04:00:00 -0500

New York Magazine recently ran an article titled, “Is The World Ready for Libido in a Nasal Spray?” (1) The drug, PT-141, has not yet gone through phase III clinical trials, has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and, even then, would not reach the market for three years. But it still appeals to the ever-hungry press. Sex makes news. Sex drugs really sell news. This could be a new Viagra, even a female Viagra. Wow.

It’s High Time We Protected Whistleblowers

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 19:15:54 -0500

Out there somewhere, on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, are public servants holding information on government misconduct that the rest of us should know about.

You’ll have to excuse them for being hesitant to go public given the plight of recent whistleblowers who have been punished, and punished hard, for exposing scandals.

Holiday Every Day For Pharma Under The Bush Administration

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 19:04:20 -0500

A December 21, 2004 report by the watchdog group Public Citizen provides information that explains why it’s been a holiday every day for the pharmaceutical industry, since George W. Bush took office.

The Constant Gardener

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 04:00:00 -0400

Some of you may observe the actions of the pharmaceutical industry and wonder why, from a PR perspective, it seems intent on taking dead aim somewhere between the second and third metacarpals (bones in the feet, in case you were wondering), then determinedly pulling the trigger. Not once, but time and time again. To quote Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie The Terminator, “I use an Uzi nine millimetre.”

Breaking The Glass Test Tube

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 15:20:06 -0400

The traditional glass ceiling for women has a slightly different shape when it comes to the fields of hard science. There, the barrier is more like a test tube.

In the most recent edition of Science magazine, a group of prominent women scientists and administrators, including college chancellors and provosts, analyzed the issue. Lead author Jo Handelsman, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted, “The good news is we have made progress — the bad news, we still have a long way to go to achieve equality.”

Hooray – Sort Of

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 04:00:00 -0400

‘The House of Representatives voted this afternoon to prohibit outside doctors and scientists who work for drug companies from sitting on Food and Drug Administration panels that pass judgment on those same companies’ products.’

Don’t get me wrong. This is good news……But….but... At present Saddam Hussein sits in a prison cell, awaiting his trial for crimes against humanity. The trial of Slobodan Milosevic (remember him, Kosovo, murder of thousand of Albanians – ring any bells?) has been going on forever, and will go on forever, until Slobodan has to be brought into court preserved in formaldehyde, having died eight hundred years previously. Even then his defence lawyer will still be bleating for more evidence to be heard.

Direct-To-Consumer Advertising: A Treacherous Road

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 17:36:26 -0400

The phrase Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs (DTCARx) brings to mind images of Viagra, and the Wagnerian certainty of happy households and contented spouses.

Gosh, Really, You Don’t Say

Sun, 22 May 2005 04:00:00 -0400

Sometimes you read something of such blinding obviousness (if that is actually a word), that you wonder why anyone even bothered writing it at all. You know the sort of thing - ‘constant criticism of children does not lead to a sense of self-worth.’ ‘A centralized command economy does not create wealth for citizens.’

But the blindingly obvious can be critically important depending on who says it. I can bang on and on about the fact that medical journals have basically turned themselves into advertorials for the pharmaceutical industry, and be readily dismissed as a fringe lunatic.

Time For A Conspiracy Theory Or Two

Sun, 08 May 2005 04:00:00 -0400

‘Pharmaceutical Industry Opposition to Reimportation ’Financial Suicide,’ Pfizer’s Rost Says

‘Pharmaceutical companies are being led by "dinosaurs who are committing financial suicide" by opposing US residents’ reimportation of lower-cost drugs from abroad, Peter Rost, a vice president of marketing at... Pfizer, said in a speech at the Minnesota Senior Federation Monday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

The Earth Is Not Flat – Final Proof

Fri, 29 Apr 2005 04:00:00 -0400

I always have to remain silent whilst fellow doctors inform me – in all seriousness – that drug advertising, and drug reps, have no influence on their prescribing habits. For I know that, were I to start, a great wave of scathing sarcasm would descend upon my fellow medic that would probably wash away any friendship now, and forever more, amen.

So I merely swallow hard, nod, smile weakly and change the subject to something safe like religion or politics. What moral cowardice… I prefer to think of it as pragmatism.

‘Armed And Dangerous’ – Wake Up Call

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 04:00:00 -0400

“Many a man stumbles across the truth, then picks himself up and hurries on as though nothing had happened.”
Winston Churchill

For some time now, I have been following the work of a UK parliamentary committee which has been looking into the activities of the pharmaceutical companies, and their influence over the healthcare system. Whilst this committee was sitting you could even watch the proceedings on television, although I wouldn’t recommend it - other than as a cure for insomnia.

Dear Doctors

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 04:00:00 -0400

Most of us are struggling today, doctors and patients alike, with soaring costs, the incredible maze of regulations and paperwork, the long delays for approvals, and the rushed office visits. The primary blame for this dysfunctional health care system (at least in the USA) is the domination by large, profit-oriented corporations.

Although you are also deeply frustrated, you doctors have just not resisted being programmed and conditioned.

Senate Bill Takes Away Power From States And Shields Drug Companies From Accountability For Vaccine Injuries

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:09:45 -0500

They are at it again. Those determined federalists and lobbyists for big Pharma, who view informed consent advocates and vaccine victims as an impediment to exercising more control over and making more money off of America’s forced vaccination system. This time, they are using the public’s memory of September 11, 2001 to push a Senate bill (S.3) deceptively entitled "Protecting America in the War on Terror Act of 2005."

Was The “Fix” In?

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 15:19:38 -0500

In our increasingly competitive world even the historically ethical industry of Health Care is not free from propaganda, dirty tricks and vested interests. So what is a health care consumer (that’s all of us) to do? How do we distinguish between objective and biased information? Especially in this digital age of information overload?

He Who Pays The Piper Calls The Tune (French Proverb)

Sun, 16 Jan 2005 04:00:00 -0500

And what song do we expect the pharmaceutical company wishes to hear sung by international medical opinion leaders? In general it goes like this ‘Use more of the new expensive drugs. For they will make you well.’ To the tune of Amazing Grace.

How much money does it take to get an international opinion leader to sing for their supper? That depends. In the case of Dr Bryan Brewer, a leader at the National Institutes of Health, it took $57,000/year.